My Favorite Books of 2022
NONFICTION
84 Charring Cross Road by Helene Hanff (1970)
Helene Hanff, author extraordinaire lives in New York but has discovered a book that she wants to purchase from a small bookshop in London. So she writes a letter with the payment included for said book. And what follows is a years-long exchange of correspondence, payment, and purchase of books between Helene in New York and the bookstore in London. Helen is hilarious and the family of characters that she corresponds with across the pond are7 quirky and entertaining.
READ THIS IF YOU LIKE epistolary novels with humor
Contains: consequences of war
CLASSICS
I had the pleasure in 2022 to read the works of Madeline L’Engle, Louise May Alcott and LM Montgomery. Some were re-reads, such as A Wrinkle In Time and Little Women (both of which continue to stand up as favorites of all time), and others were first time reads, such as Pat of Silver Bush and Magic for Marigold (both of which are solid works but not new favorites). If you’d like to know more about that, please let me know. I’d love to share discourse about any of these books.
Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy (1886) Honorable Mention
This novel begins with a desolate evening consisting of Michael Henchard becoming intoxicated with rum-filled furmity (porridge) and deciding to sell his wife and baby to a traveler passing through the same pub. Within the first chapter, Thomas Hardy’s main character does something so abhorrent and disgusting that many modern readers are reticent to read this novel.
The redemptive theme continues throughout Henchard’s life, as he continually struggles with impetuousness and ugliness. And the development and depth of the characters is a roller coaster of ride as they are each so apparently human in their faults and decisions.
READ THIS IF YOU LIKE love triangles, miscommunication in a relationship trope, pastoral depictions, redemption
Contains: domestic and emotional abuse, alcoholism, child custody
The Middle Window by Elizabeth Goudge (1974)
As I am slowly making my way through all of Elizabeth Goudge’s fiction works, I read The Middle Window and loved it immensely.
Based on a window shopping experience in her spoiled London life, Judy Cameron impetuously decides she wants to visit Scotland for the summer with her parents and her fiancé. Upon arrival, Judy seems to bloom under the damp Scottish weather, and she is enchanted by the house in which they are staying, as well as the surrounding wooded glen and rock outcroppings. As this bildungsroman progresses, a dual timeline emerges that indicates a connection between a strapping Scottish man named Ian MacDonald and, surprisingly, Judy. Goudge’s poignant portrayal of Judy’s redemptive growth into a strong woman with confidence and depth of character culminates in a striking denouement.
For Goudge, a God-fearing woman, to write about reincarnation seems a bit incongruent but many of her works contain mysticism and unexplainable insights. Any lover of classical literature AND the fantasy genre will find much to love in this Goudge work.
READ THIS IF YOU LIKE the Scottish highlands setting paired with romance
Contains: war and violence
Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte (1848)
Helen Graham arrives at Wildfelll Hall in a cloud of mystery and through her friendship with neighbor Gilbert Markham, her intriguing past slowly comes to light. While Helen is intentionally secretive about her past , she eventually makes the choice to enlighten Gilbert by sharing her journal with him.
With this novel , Anne Bronte clearly pushes on social norms: Helen is staying staying alone at Wildfell Hall with her son and her servant Rachel, she is earning a living through art, and she is not seeking a husband. This is a departure from the Bronte novels and as such, was not published for decades after the first release.
READ THIS IF YOU LIKE mystery, redemption
Contains: domestic and emotional abuse, alcoholism, child abuse, infidelity, child custody
GRAPHIC NOVELS
Lightfall Series by Tim Probst (2020)
Bea is the adopted granddaughter of the Pig Wizard on planet Irpa. The artwork in this book is phenomenal and walking through the forests of Irpa with Bea is magical. Bea meets Cad, a Galdurian a race of creatures who Irpians thought was extinct. Together they discover that Bea’s adopted grandfather is missing and that there is an ancient danger that has awoken.
READ THIS IF YOU LIKE stunning illustrations, quests, fantasy
Contains: peril, violence
When Stars Are Scattered by Omar Mohamed, illustrated by Victoria Jamieson (2020)
Omar and his younger brother, Hassan, are orphans who live in refugee camp in Kenya. Hassan has an intellectual disability and is nonverbal, but has medical needs that cannot be met in the refugee camp. This graphic novel is a true story of one brother who sacrifices everything for the love of another brother.
READ THIS IF YOU LIKE memoir graphic novels
Contains: war, poverty
MIDDLE GRADE
The Nowhere Emporium by Ross MacKenzie (2015) Honorable Mention
Daniel is an orphan in Glasgow, Scotland who opens the door to a quirky storefront in a moment of intense need, as he was being chased by orphanage bullies. He is treated kindly by the proprietor and then is turned back out into the Glasgow streets. The next day he returns to the same storefront but when he enters, the proprietor is shocked that Daniel remembers being in the Emporium the day before. No one can remember ever being there once they leave. But not Daniel. And so, the proprietor, who Daniel learns is named Mr. Silver, decides to take Daniel on as an apprentice. And little do they both know, their relationship is what the Emporium will need if it’s going to survive the attack.
READ THIS IF YOU LIKE The Night Circus
Contains: peril, violence
Out of My Mind by Sharon Draper 2010 (and the sequel Out of My heart is also wonderful)
Melody is a brilliant young lady, with an incredible memory. She also has cereal palsy and is not able to talk or walk. The reader is given the perspective of Melody’s thoughts as she maneuvers through diagnoses, school and even tragedy.
READ THIS IF YOU LIKE Wonder by RJ Palacio
Contains: sibling injury, ableism
Skunk & Badger by Amy Timberlake (2020)
Badger is completely content living in his aunt’s house while she is gone. He does Important Rock Work, keeps his house spotless, and resolutely relies on his routine. Until the day he hears a knock on the front door, and opens it to find Skunk moving in as a roommate based on Badger’s aunt’s invitation. And then the chickens move in too.
Badger and Skunk both have so much to learn about self, each other, and compromise.
READ THIS IF YOU LIKE Frog & Toad meets The Odd Couple meets The Wind in the Willows
Contains: discrimination
HISTORICAL FICTION
Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak (2012) Honorable Mention
Varvara is a bookbinder turned servant turned spymaster in Catherine the Great’s Court. She develops a tenuous trust with wily Sophie, a young princess who is destined to marry the nephew of the Empress. Varvara clandestinely winds her way through secret alliances and gives insight into a shadowy, behind the curtain view of Russian royalty during the 1700s.
As a well-researched historical fiction, this novel does not solely focus on Catherine herself, but rather on the complexities within the Court itself. This is not a dry historical account as the reader roils around in the turbulence of intense drama, seduction and shocking decisions.
READ THIS IF YOU LIKE Downton Abby’s upstairs / downstairs viewpoint
Contains: Intimate details shared in an open door manner (not steamy but fairly explicit), infidelity
The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray (2021)
As a burgeoning young adult, Belle Marion Greener decides to “pass as white” based on her light complexion. By claiming Portuguese lineage and hiding her Black father’s side of the family, she becomes Belle da Costa Greene. Her education, experience, and networking skills all lead up to J.P. Morgan hiring her at a fairly young age to be the curator of his Pierpont Morgan Library, consisting of rare and antiquated books and artwork. Belle is assertive, clever, and inventive in ways not normally exhibited by a woman in her time. She keeps a tight reign on herself for most of her life due to the secret of her race, and incredibly, her truth did not come into public knowledge until after her death.
The audiobook was phenomenal and pulled the listener along with Belle during the fascinating early adulthood part of her life.
READ THIS IF YOU LIKE dramatized biographies of little-known but incredibly interesting people
Contains: abortion, intimate relationships explored outside of marriage
The Last Bookshop in London by Madeline Martin (2021)
This wholesome account unpacks the story of of Grace Bennett, who fortuitously ended up employed at Primrose Hill, a quirky, disorganized bookshop in London. During the Blitz of World War Two, Grace was able to give hope to the people in her community. There are quite a few side characters surrounding Grace: her landlady, her best friend, the bookshop owner, children in her community, and a man whose minimal presence gives Grace a small romantic dalliance.
The audio version was lovely and the ‘goodness’ that seeps out of this war story does not feel overly saccharine - especially as the horrors of war are recounted, but rather there is a genuine innocence portrayed that feels mostly like hope.
READ THIS IF YOU LIKE the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society but make it innocent
Contains: war, deaths of close friends
Young Adult Historical Fiction
We are the Scribes by Randi Pink (2022) Honorable Mention
Ruth Fitz is part of a powerful Black family, as the daughter of an activist father and the Vice Presidential candidate mother. When her sister tragically dies, Ruth shuts down and is, understandably traumatized. Coincidentally, this is also the time that she unbelievable starts to receive scrolls from Harriett Jacobs, the author of an autobiography written in 1861 called Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. Somehow the space time continuum can be breeched so that Ruth in modern times can receive letters from Harriet from the 19th century. Harriet helps Ruth and her family through the pain of loss with the hope of bringing them out on the other side.
READ THIS IF YOU LIKE Octavia Butler’s Kindred
Contains: swear words, sibling death, parental abandonment, slavery, cruelty, PTSD, grief
As Long as The Lemon Trees Grow by Zoulfa Katouh (2022)
After the revolution in Syria begins, Salama Kassab is a hospital volunteer with some medical training from previously being a pharmacy student. Life is now giving her far more medical skills experience than pharmaceutical school ever did as she helps heal her war-torn fellow country men and women. Through her ability to mend injuries, Salama even meets a young man, and seems to develop a chaste affinity for him.
But Salama has a secret. Ever since she lost everyone in her family due to this war, except her sister-in-law Layla, she has been plagued by an imaginary visitor, Khawf, a vicious tormentor who is adamant that Salama needs to leave Syria.
The way that internal coping mechanisms to handle grief and horrifying trauma are handled in this book are both fascinating and heart-breaking.
READ THIS IF YOU LIKE modern historical fiction and survivor stories
Contains: parental and sibling deaths, war and torture, assault, child abuse, food scarcity, PTSD, grief
3 FANTASY
I had the pleasure of reading Howls Moving Castle a cult classic by Diane Winn Jones, as well as watching the Studio Ghibli version. It certainly lives up to the adoration of it’s fans and I have purchased a copy for my shelf. Being given precious real estate space on my bookshelf is the sure sign of a favorite. Honorable Mention
Heart of the Fae by Emma Hamm (2017)
Healer Sorcha makes a deal with fae in order to save her family, and her people, from a disgusting blood beetle plague. Through this agreement, she travels to the ends of the earth to a remote, hidden island that is home of a banished fae king, named Eamon. After befriending the pixies and brownies on the island, Sorcha discovers that Eamon has a condition in which his injuries heal with crystals growing back into the wound. As Sorcha tries meet her end of the bargain with the fae to help heal her people and Eamon realizes that his brother is destroying the Fae Court, this slow burn romance might help both of them to meet their needs.
READ THIS IF YOU LIKE Irish folklore and Beauty and the Beast retellings but FAE.
Contains: open door sexual encounters (a bit spicy to be honest), gruesome plague details, prostitution, drug use, wound descriptions, creepy ‘underworld’ scenes
Invisible Life of Addie La Rue by VE Schwab (2020)
In early 1700s rural France, Addie La Rue makes a faustian bargain with a god named Luc to save herself from an unwanted marriage. And she ends up with an immortal life in which no one remembers her from one moment to the next. So Addie lives out centuries of loneliness with only a sometimes-annual visit from Luc. Until one day, in modern times, when a boy names Henry remembers her. Aside from the stunning writing, one of Addie La Rue’s biggest draws as a character is her adaptability. She learns how to survive and even have relationships with men and women who don’t remember her. This is Addie’s story. This is Henry’s story.
READ THIS IF YOU LIKE a time travel element, consequences of immortality, a unique spin on faustian bargains
Contains: open door sexual encounters, assault, depression and attempted suicide, arranged marriage, food scarcity
Young Adult Fantasy
Twin Crowns by Catherine Doyle and Katherine Webber (2022)
Wren wakes up and breaks into a castle. Rose wakes up in a desert after never having left her castle. Wren knows her sister well enough to impersonate her inside the castle walls to the very people who wanted her parents dead. Rose doesn’t know she has a sister and has always trusted and believed the people surrounding her in the castle. With only a few weeks away from Rose’s coronation, it’s time for the witch rebels to make their move and replace a princess with one of their own.
READ THIS IF YOU LIKE dual points of view, witches and magic, slightly open door enemies to lovers trope, uncovering a royal plot
Contains: war, persecution, kidnapping, parent deaths
Belladonna by Adalyn Grace (2022)
Signa Farrow is an orphan who seems to curse anyone and everyone in her life to death. And in these moments of the death of those closest to her, she can physically see Death himself. As she reaches the end of her options, she is brought to Thorn Grove, the estate of wealth relatives. Signa has her own wealth so she enters the house on fairly equal footing, but coupling being controlled by social norms and a people-pleasing personality with her propensity for leaving those around her dead, she is reticent to do anything that might cause strife. But shortly after she arrives, she discovers suspicion surrounding the death of the lady of the house and decides to help solve the mystery. And she finds help in an unlikely character: Death.
READ THIS IF YOU LIKE knowing that two characters are meant for each other and aren’t really distracted by others (could be called “insta-romance” but could be called “soul-mates that just KNOW”).
Contains: death, poison (hence the name!), slightly spicy but nothing graphically open door
Daughter of the Moon Goddess by Sue Lyn Tan (2022)
Celestial Kingdom Duology
Xingyin lives on the moon with her goddess mother until the day she decides to use forbidden magic. She flees the moon and ends up down in the Celestial Kingdom palace, where she cannot divulge who she is or from where she came. Xingyin battles discrimination, beasts, and betrayal. The magic system and world-building in this sweeping saga that pulls a Chinese legend into the lives of its descendants is phenomenal. The descriptions of food and clothing and palace life alone glitter with beauty.
READ THIS IF YOU LIKE Chinese mythology, solid world-building, a female warrior main character, and love triangles
Contains: kidnapping, violence
Legendborn Series by Tracy Deonn (2020 & 2022)
Still emotional destroyed by the death of her mother, Bree sees a flying beast her first night on the UNC - Chapel Hill campus. In a weird exchange with another male student who appears to have magical abilities, Bree’s memories of this event are not erased - as he had attempted - and now she has to reconcile the life she thought she knew with the world she now knows exists. While the plot of this book is phenomenal and the tie-in with slavery and complex race-biased history is magnificent, Bree’s character development is the most incredible part of this book. The twists and turns, and eventual denouement will have the reader rooting for her and her root magic.
READ THIS IF YOU LIKE King Aurthur legend vibes and Kindred by Octavia Butler
Contains: parental death and resulting grief, racism, violence, physical and sexual assault, kidnapping
